Talk:Believe (1)/@comment-5261392-20140712194901
Annie and I were discussing why we prefer Zutara over Maiko by a landslide (even though neither of us hate Maiko; just wanted to make that clear) and I was inspired to make it into a post. It's not exactly the most Maiko friendly post, so if you're a huge fan of them, you may want to keep on scrolling. :P I know Mai and Zuko are a widely popular ship in the fandom and while I don't dislike them, they just don't give me the emotions that Zutara has and in many ways, I don't think they're very emotionally compatible. Instead of writing this in a typical essay form, I'm just gonna discuss the main aspects of where I feel that Zutara is superior to Maiko. Zutara vs. Maiko *Zuko and Katara had an epic journey. Whether you ship them or not, you have to admit it was amazing how these two went from enemies to acquaintances to best friends, confidants, partners in crime - even people who were willing to die for one another. I'm not even saying this because I'm a huge Zutara fan, but there were so many hints dropped that Zuko had romantic feelings for Katara. Hell, he jumped in front of lightning for her! Meanwhile, Mai and Zuko never had such journey or organic growth and development and felt contrived. I appreciate the fact that Mai had a childhood crush on Zuko, but we never saw the development as they went from a childhood crush to lovers. There was never a period of them realizing their feelings for each other and struggling to come to terms with it, or even saying where these deep feelings of love stemmed from. I know Zuko and Mai loved each other, but I didn't particularly feel it or see where it came from. *Zuko and Katara related to each other more than anyone else. They both lost their mothers at a young age and were forced to grow up, being denied the luxury of growing up. But at the same time, they weren't so similar that there was so dynamic. Quite the opposite, actually. Their contrast in personalities (literally, fire and water lmao) caused them to push one another to preform better without making it an endeavor to fix one another. However, the fact that they were able to relate to one another caused them to form a bond and really listen to and understand each other. Katara reached out to Zuko and forgave him despite his fauts, offered him compassion, forgiveness, and understanding. Also, another reason why Zutara scenes are so epic was because both of them were so important to both characters. We really saw how caring, compassionate, and kind hearted Katara was around Zuko, while we saw how Zuko was constantly striving to do good, his strong knowledge of what's wrong and what's wrong, and how he had a genuinely good heart and was willing to do everything to protect and save Team Avatar. Let's compare that to Mai brushing off Zuko's problems when he tried to open up to her and she said "I didn't ask for your life story". -_- *The emotional compability. Despite the fact that Zutara was never canon, there was so much evidence that these two had feelings for each other. Why would Katara constantly reach out to Zuko, offer her healing and understanding to him when no one else had? Why would Zuko save Katara's life on multiple occasions, even taking a lightning strike to the heart for her? Zuko and Mai's similarities gave them problems. Zuko straight up told Mai that he wished she was more dynamic and emotional - JUST like Katara is - which speaks volumes about who he would have been better off with. I appreciate Maiko in the sense that Mai loved Zuko more than she feared Azula and how Zuko smiled around her, but they had a lack of communication, journey, and understanding for one another, compared to Zutara who had all that and more. Mai and Zuko may have kissed and been more physically intimate, but Zutara had so many amazing scenes that were important to the storyline, the respective characters, and their development, whereas in my honest opinion, Zuko and Mai seemed to date out of convenience.